Advanced Hypertext

Summary: To manage a huge, worldwide information space, users need proven features like fat links, typed links, integrated search and browsing, overview maps, big-screen designs, and physical hypertext.

Tim Berners-Lee's genius in inventing the Web in 1991 was to strip the hypertext concept to the bone and design a system with minimal features that worked across the Internet.

The Web really has only one feature: uni-directional plain links that replace the existing page with a new one. Yes, the feature has twists, such as the ability to go back or open the link in a new window (which I recommend against), but fundamentally, the Web has no advanced hypertext capabilities.

New Web Features Since the first hypertext systems in the 1960s, many more features have been invented and several turned out to be useful. Maybe it's time to implement some of these features for the Web.

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20050103.html

-- MartinCleaver - 16 Jan 2005